Lights Up! Assessing Theatrical Performance Skills

• In Event: 72.049 - Situated Learning in the Arts

Abstract

With the National Core Arts Standards on the horizon, there is an increasing need for better assessments of arts learning, particularly in drama education, which is lacking consistent measures for assessing skills related to theatrical performance. This paper reports on the creation of a performance-based assessment to assess learning in the drama classroom. A national group of drama instructors coordinated with us to create an assessment rubric containing four scoring categories: Diction and Volume, Vocabulary and Variety of Improvised Movement, Teamwork, and Stage Presence. Extensive field testing of the instrument demonstrated its ability to distinguish between fourth-grade classrooms that had and had not received long-term drama instruction. Reliability and validity issues of this new instrument are discussed.

Authors

• Sophia Bender, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Christian McKay, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Kylie A. Peppler, Indiana University - Bloomington

• James S. Catterall, Centers for Research on Creativity